Too Good To Be True
by Mirrored Illusions
Summary: The NSA gave Freya all the money she could ever need, but everything comes with a price.


**Notes**: Written for the Small Fandom Fest, part 12. .com  
**Prompt**: Thoughtcrimes; Freya & or / Brendan; The NSA spared no expense when it came to her. Him, not so much.

-.-.-

When Freya agreed to join the NSA, even if it was only on a trial basis, they gave her a beautiful two-story apartment, fully furnished, and insisted to pay all the bills that came with it. They also sent someone with her to buy new clothes, make-up, feminine products, and anything else she might need. Dr. Welles and his handlers even gave her an unlimited bank account and told her she could use it for whatever she wanted as long as it was legal.

The apartment came with its own library, complete with a copy of all the books she had read while at Brookridge and the ones from her childhood and teenage years. It also had new instruction manuals, text books on behavior analysis, and other books the NSA considered to be important; books on telepathy, meditation, and assorted other bricks Dr. Welles wanted her to read so she could improve her skills; and an assortment of classics and recent popular books in a mix of hardback and paperback. And for some reason he couldn't figure out there were also several tomes of original fairytales and several volumes of their more modern and disneyfied counterparts.

Like the rest of the apartment it was decorated in white and polished wood with bookshelves going from floor to ceiling, and even over the door. Most of them were empty and just waiting for her to fill them with whatever caught her fancy. As the rest of the apartment it had natural light.

The room also had a big wooden desk with a lot of drawers and a physically relaxing office chair behind it. There were also several matching comfortable chairs in various shapes and sizes strewn around the room, all of whom had a strategically placed lamp behind it for easy reading after dark.

Downstairs was a state of the art kitchen with every appliance one could dream of, except Freya's cooking skills didn't go much further than pasta. Brendan on the other hand had made some pretty amazing dinners in there, and judging by Freya's willingness to allow him to continue she agreed. Or maybe she was just tired of take-out, he wasn't sure and she definitely wasn't telling.

They also gave her a membership to one of the best gyms in the area and arranged for a personal trainer. Clearly thinking of the exercise she had forced herself to do back at the mental hospital in an attempt to chase the voices away.

Once it became clear that her ability was real and highly effective they organized it so that she had private tutors teaching her Spanish, Arabic, French, and a few other languages so she could at the very least understand them and translate the information she gleaned. These lessons were quickly followed by college courses so she could get a proper education.

Brendan? Brendan didn't get anything extra when he agreed to continue to be Freya's partner. Nope, he still had the same small apartment he had before meeting the telepath, and he still didn't get any extra pay or benefits. What he did get though was the highest solving rate for a team in the NSA, which was definitely a good thing.

Freya also insisted he was a part of the package deal when the NSA decided to loan Freya to another department or agency, which as time went by happened more and more often. Word of mouth, as it was, could be a good thing even if most people didn't know why they got such good results.

Giving the higher-ups without clearance to know about Dr. Welles' project the tried and true "It's _classified_" was an added bonus he wouldn't get tired of anytime soon.

Over the next few months after the Gazal case they practiced and fine-tuned their collaboration; Brendan would think of a specific event, person, or object and Freya would read his mind. She learned to see what he had seen, and to pick up on details he had seen but deemed unimportant. She learned to listen both to what he said out loud and to what he only thought, and most importantly to read between the lines to understand what he actually meant. He was most impressed about the latter.

Being the person he was he included everything from sports to Scooby Doo to incidents from his training to become an agent. He also snuck in chess lessons, and after she caught part of a poker tournament on TV he decided to teach her Texas hold 'em on the promise that she wouldn't cheat.

Cases came and went, mostly they caught the criminals and they were either killed or put to justice in a court of law, but there were always a few who would get away. A few of the cases involved June in some way, but mostly Freya's sister was kept out of it.

The two of them tried to reconnect without crossing the lines between what the NSA deemed classified and June's lawyer/client confidentiality. Progress was slow but steady, and all things considered they were improving and moving towards a friendship.

Six years after they caught Gazal Freya brought up a subject that had completely blindsided him.

"My mother was also a telepath, but unlike me she was already depressed when she became active."

Brendan had known for several years that Mrs. McAllister had committed suicide, but had been unaware of the reason behind the drastic act. It still didn't explain the non sequitur from the latest Narnia movie though.

"Michael thinks she was very powerful, but not as powerful as I am. Unfortunately no one came to save her and no one thought she would go that far to try and stop the voices." Freya's voice had been matter-of-fact as she spoke, but her dark eyes and restless hands had showed worry.

"Freya?" _What brought this on?_ Brendon had lost the thread of the conversation before he had even had a chance to grasp it.

"Michael thinks June's daughter might be a telepath as well, and he wants me to inform him the next time I babysit Nicole so he can come over and do some tests." She had dropped the pretense now and was looking at him as if he could fix this.

"Tests? What kind of tests and _why_? She's _three_! You didn't become active until you were in your mid-teens and if you're right about your mother then she had to have been over 30!"

"He thinks it's hereditary but that it skipped June for some reason, and he's sure that Nicole has the ability and wants to begin to train her earlier to avoid any issues. And he wants to keep it secret from June."

Brendan had put his face in his hands and sighed deeply.

He didn't get the good money and the government didn't pay his bills or offer him anything money could buy, but at least he wasn't expected to give up his family to government funded research. And given Freya's reaction she was finally realizing that all those benefits had a heavy prize.


End file.
